Pittsburgh Steelers rookie running back Dri Archer will apparently not practice at all this week during the first OTA session of the 2014 season.

Initially it was reported that Archer, the Steelers third-round selection this year in the 2014 NFL Draft, was excused from practice with an illness, but evidently that illness didn’t prevent him from attending the NFL Players Association Rookie Premier in Los Angeles that got underway on Wednesday.

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Non-story. I’d imagine he sat down with Tomlin or someone in the front office and gave them a heads up that he would be attending this instead of just “blowing it off”.

Caesar

And so it begins…

RW

What in the world is the NFLPA rookie premier?

Eric MacLaurin

Voluntary means you only go if you really care about your job.

With as little practice time as the CBA allows the idea of a rookie skipping the first week because he has other priorities is a pretty big red flag.

cencalsteeler

I believe one of his interviews stated that he was one of the first ones to minicamp. What I don’t understand is why the NFL puts on this rookie premier at the same time most teams are conducting their OTA’s. Bump the draft up a week earlier, have the rookie premier, than camps open.

Kurt Williams

My thoughts exactly.

joed32

LOS ANGELES, May 27, 2014 – More than 35 top rookies from the 2014 NFL Draft class will come together in Los Angeles May 29-31 to learn the business of football at the 20th annual NFL sent their #1PA Rookie Premiere. A robust roster of business partners will be on site to grow their brands and promote their products through the utilization of group player rights facilitated by NFL Players Inc.

This is a mandatory event and each team is required to send one of their rookies to attend. A lot of teams sent their #1 pick. Why does everything need to be turned into something negative.

Kurt Williams

“players will learn about the business of football from fellow players, union leadership, and industry experts as they start to build a game plan to succeed beyond their playing careers.”

Non news as it’s better Archer went than Shazior, Tuitt, or Bryant as he has less to learn. On another note, they just released Nik Embernate.

DowntownDonni

Word up!

Benjamin Simpson

I’m sure Mike Tomlin is aware he is representing the Steelers in the NFLPA Premiere. Who else would he send. I’m sure glad that Shazier and Tuitt are getting their reps in OTA’s.. For someone that seems to put in a lot a time to this team. I’m surprised you didn’t know this..

DowntownDonni

Slow media days, the idiots had nothing to do… all the big correspondents are busy right now… wow imagine how far down the pole these people are.

ApexSteel

I knew I was going to come back to this article and everyone would be losing it… You guys jump to so many conclusions.

Benjamin Simpson

I guess sensationalism sells, but is it that good news..

RMSteeler

I’d say Archer is off to a good start in branding. He already got a national endorsement and TV commercial, less than a month afte being drafted in the THIRD round! How long did it take for Troy to get his Head and Shoulders deal?

Jacque Strappe

Is the NFLPA and NFL in sync on this one? Seems the NFL had nothing to do with it. A business class put on by the PA. Here’s his business, catch the kick, run fast with it, don’t fumble it. That’s about it.

JAMESH

Thanks, joed32.

NW86

Wow, I generally respect Bouchette, but for him to turn this non-story about a player attending a NFLPA event, one that the team is required to send a rookie to, into a sensationalized “Archer Blew off OTA’s because he is not dedicated to the Steelers” story is misleading and even irresponsible.

cencalsteeler

I would assume the letters “NFL” in NFLPA would tell us they’re are indeed correlated, but I’m guessing on it, quite honestly.

That makes since the kid probably will not run much in the conventional offense. As reported they will have special plays to get him the ball. I would rather him go than one of the defensive rookies.

Slab

Really disheartening. How does a respected beat writer trash a young draft pick without doing even a bare minimum fact check first? He owes Archer a public apology and if I’m Archer’s teammate, Bouchette is persona non grata until he makes it right.

shawn

The guy has a great work ethic & great teammate by all accounts … red flag is completely out of line !

Eric MacLaurin

Out of line?

🙂

Do you know what a red flag is?

Jacque Strappe

As “at odds” as the two have been I’m guessing that they’re not really concerned about what’s best for one another.

John C

Please don’t post any more articles where Ed Bouchette is the only source. Even his own paper doesn’t trust him as he was wondering why they didn’t run his story about Archer blowing off OTAs in this mornings paper.

joed32

They’re running a segment on Sports Center about and it looks pretty dry and boring. It is run by the players union and has been agreed to by the league.

Richard Clinton

Are you sure that he did not have a good excuse? So often reporters write CRAP and people get all excited over nothing. This report sounds like gossip to me.

Brian Tollini

Good call.

steelster

his good call is after the real story has been reported.

Milliken Steeler

That makes sense however, that has to take place right now? It couldn’t have been a few weeks earlier? Just a thought.

Louis Goetz

And another example of people jumping at the chance to criticize and chop someone down even if they don’t know a single thing about the situation they’re commenting on.

Eric MacLaurin

What are you talking about?

You sound a little paranoid.

Louis Goetz

All too often people rush to judgment — for lack of a better term — when news of something involving a player breaks. People would rather assume that a player did the worst, as opposed to waiting to see what the facts are before forming an opinion. By then, however, it’s too late as there are no appeals in the court of public opinion. I wasn’t suggesting that you had done anything.